Search results for: flexible beam

Authors: W. Nataniel, B. Lima, J. Manoel, M. P. Filho, H. Marcos, Oliveira Mauricio, P. Ferreira

Abstract:

Headed reinforcement bars are increasingly used for anchorage in concrete structures. Applications include connections in composite steel-concrete structures, such as beam-column joints, in several strengthening situations as well as in more traditional uses in cast-in-place and precast structural systems. This paper investigates the reduction in the ultimate tensile capacity of embedded cast-in headed anchors due to concrete cracking. A series of nine laboratory tests are carried out to evaluate the influence of cracking on the concrete breakout strength in tension. The experimental results show that cracking affects both the resistance and load-slip response of the headed bar anchors. The strengths measured in these tests are compared to theoretical resistances calculated following the recommendations presented by fib Bulletin no. 58 (2011), ETAG 001 (2010) and ACI 318 (2014). The influences of parameters such as the effective embedment depth (h_ef), bar diameter (d_s), and the concrete compressive strength (f_c) are analysed and discussed. The theoretical recommendations are shown to be over-conservative for both embedment depths and were, in general, inaccurate in comparison to the experimental trends. The ACI 318 (2014) was the design code which presented the best performance regarding to the predictions of the ultimate load, with an average of 1.42 for the ratio between the experimental and estimated strengths, standard deviation of 0.36, and coefficient of variation equal to 0.25.

Keywords: Cast-in headed anchors, concrete cone failure, uncracked concrete, cracked concrete.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 667

Authors: Haining Wang, Hong Zhang

Abstract:

Problems exist in the present construction industry in China. Conflicts hinder the development of the whole society, such as contradictions between resource reservation and a huge population, living space needs and low building production efficiency, as well as environment protection and high pollution production pattern. In order to solve the problems and find a solution, research is needed to explore a building system. By investigating the whole architectural process and contrasting analysis of light structures and heavy structures, the paper raised the concepts to cope with the existing challenges, such as design conception based on product and real construction processes, design methods focusing on components, and maximum utilization of the temporary building by optimizing the construction speed and building performance. The project was not only designed in virtual reality, but was also physically constructed in the real world. A series of aluminum light structure housing systems were dictated at last, with the characteristics of high performance, extremely rapid construction speed and also flexible function. It can be used in lots of aspects ranging from a single building in a remote area to a large residential community.

Keywords: Aluminum house, light structure, rapid assembly, repeat construction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1524

Authors: K. Sandjak, B. Tiliouine

Abstract:

Structural analysis of flexible pavements has been and still is currently performed using multi-layer elastic theory. However, for thinly surfaced pavements subjected to low to medium volumes of traffics, the importance of non-linear stress-strain behavior of unbound granular materials (UGM) requires the use of more sophisticated numerical models for structural design and performance of such pavements. In the present work, nonlinear unbound aggregates constitutive model is implemented within an axisymmetric finite element code developed to simulate the nonlinear behavior of pavement structures including two local aggregates of different mineralogical nature, typically used in Algerian pavements. The performance of the mechanical model is examined about its capability of representing adequately, under various conditions, the granular material non-linearity in pavement analysis. In addition, deflection data collected by Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) are incorporated into the analysis in order to assess the sensitivity of critical pavement design criteria and pavement design life to the constitutive model. Finally, conclusions of engineering significance are formulated. 

Keywords: Nonlinear resilient behavior, unbound granular materials, RLT test results, FWD backcalculations, finite element simulations, pavement response and performance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2292

Authors: Mohamed A. Mahfouz, M. A. Ismail

Abstract:

Biclustering is a very useful data mining technique for identifying patterns where different genes are co-related based on a subset of conditions in gene expression analysis. Association rules mining is an efficient approach to achieve biclustering as in BIMODULE algorithm but it is sensitive to the value given to its input parameters and the discretization procedure used in the preprocessing step, also when noise is present, classical association rules miners discover multiple small fragments of the true bicluster, but miss the true bicluster itself. This paper formally presents a generalized noise tolerant bicluster model, termed as μBicluster. An iterative algorithm termed as BIDENS based on the proposed model is introduced that can discover a set of k possibly overlapping biclusters simultaneously. Our model uses a more flexible method to partition the dimensions to preserve meaningful and significant biclusters. The proposed algorithm allows discovering biclusters that hard to be discovered by BIMODULE. Experimental study on yeast, human gene expression data and several artificial datasets shows that our algorithm offers substantial improvements over several previously proposed biclustering algorithms.

Keywords: Machine learning, biclustering, bi-dimensional clustering, gene expression analysis, data mining.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1962

Authors: Goh Yung Hong, Mona Masood

Abstract:

This paper explores the effects of gamification on lower secondary school students’ motivation and engagement in the classroom. Two-group posttest-only experimental design were employed to study the influence of gamification teaching method (GTM) when compared with conventional teaching method (CTM) on 60 lower secondary school students. The Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) and Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) were used to assess students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement level towards the respective teaching method. Finding indicates that students who completed the GTM lesson were significantly higher in intrinsic motivation to learn than those from the CTM. Although the result were insignificant and only marginal difference in the engagement mean, GTM still show better potential in raising student’s engagement in class when compared with CTM. This finding proves that the GTM is likely to solve the current issue of low motivation to learn and low engagement in class among lower secondary school students in Malaysia. On the other hand, despite being not significant, higher mean indicates that CTM positively contribute to higher peer support for learning and better teacher and student relationship when compared with GTM. As a conclusion, gamification approach is flexible and can be adapted into many learning content to enhance the intrinsic motivation to learn and to some extent, encourage better student engagement in class.

Keywords: Conventional teaching method, Gamification teaching method, Motivation, Engagement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5805

Authors: Benazeer Md. Shahzada, Verelst Jan, Van Grembergen Wim, Mannaert Herwig

Abstract:

This article is an extension and a practical application approach of Wheeler-s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology. Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler, we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We found evidences in literature that SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is a promising emerging technology which can deliver the desired economic opportunity through modularity, flexibility and loosecoupling. SOA can also help firms to connect in network which can open a new window of opportunity to collaborate in innovation and right kind of outsourcing

Keywords: Absorptive capacity, Dynamic Capability, Netenabled business innovation cycle, Service oriented architecture.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1783

Authors: Ahmed Ebian, Mona Shokair, Kamal Awadalla

Abstract:

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless solution that enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks through a common wide area broadband radio access technology and flexible network architecture. It adopts Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for improved multi-path performance in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environments. Scalable OFDMA (SOFDMA) is introduced in the IEEE 802e[1]. WIMAX system uses one of different types of channel coding but The mandatory channel coding scheme is based on binary nonrecursive Convolutional Coding (CC). There are other several optional channel coding schemes such as block turbo codes, convolutional turbo codes, and low density parity check (LDPC). In this paper a comparison between the performance of WIMAX using turbo code and using convolutional product code (CPC) [2] is made. Also a combination between them had been done. The CPC gives good results at different SNR values compared to both the turbo system, and the combination between them. For example, at BER equal to 10-2 for 128 subcarriers, the amount of improvement in SNR equals approximately 3 dB higher than turbo code and equals approximately 2dB higher than the combination respectively. Several results are obtained at different modulating schemes (16QAM and 64QAM) and different numbers of sub-carriers (128 and 512).

Keywords: Turbo Code, Convolutional Product Code (CPC), Convolutional Product Code (CPC).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3394

Authors: Gul Afreen, Sreedevi Upadhyayula, Mahendra K. Sunkara

Abstract:

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures like nanowires, nanotubes, and nanorods find variety of practical application owing to their unique physico-chemical properties. In this work, TiO₂ nanowires were synthesized by direct oxidation of titanium particles in a unique microwave plasma jet reactor. The prepared TiO₂ nanowires manifested the flexible features, and were characterized by using X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyzer, UV-Visible and FTIR spectrophotometers, Scanning electron microscope, and Transmission electron microscope. Further, the photodegradation efficiency of these nanowires were tested against toxic organic dye like methylene blue (MB) and the results were compared with the commercial TiO₂. It was found that TiO₂ nanowires exhibited superior photocatalytic performance (89%) as compared to commercial TiO₂ (75%) after 60 min of reaction. This is attributed to the lower recombination rate and increased interfacial charge transfer in TiO₂ nanowire. Pseudo-first order kinetic modelling performed with the experimental results revealed that the rate constant of photodegradation in case of TiO₂ nanowire was 1.3 times higher than that of commercial TiO₂. Superoxide radical (O₂˙⁻) was found to be the major contributor in the photodegradation mechanism. Based on the trapping experiments, a plausible mechanism of the photocatalytic reaction is discussed.

Keywords: Heterogeneous catalysis, photodegradation, reactive oxygen species, TiO2 nanowires.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 893

Authors: Ali Fadhil Naser, Wang Zonglin

Abstract:

The main objectives of this study are to inspect and identify any damage of jaimusi highway prestressed concrete bridge after repair and strengthening of damaged structural members and to evaluate the performance of the bridge structural members by adopting static load test. Inspection program after repair and strengthening includes identifying and evaluating the structural members of bridge such as T-shape cantilever structure, hanging beams, corbels, external tendons, anchor beams, sticking steel plate, and piers. The results of inspection show that the overall state of the bridge structural member after repair and strengthening is good. The results of rebound test of concrete strength show that the average strength of concrete is 46.31Mpa. Whereas, the average value of concrete strength of anchor beam is 49.82Mpa. According to the results of static load test, the experimental values are less than theoretical values of internal forces, deflection, and strain, indicating that the stiffness of the experimental structure, overall deformation and integrity satisfy the designed standard and the working performance is good, and the undertaking capacity has a certain surplus. There is not visible change in the length and width of cracks and there are not new cracks under experimental load.

Keywords: Jiamusi Bridge, Damage inspection, deflection, strain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1812

Authors: V. Santamarina Campos, M. de Miguel Molina, S. Kröner, B. de Miguel Molina

Abstract:

With this contribution, we want to show how the AiRT system could change the future way of working of a part of the creative industry and what new economic opportunities could arise for them. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), also more commonly known as drones, are now essential tools used by many different companies for their creative outdoor work. However, using this very flexible applicable tool indoor is almost impossible, since safe navigation cannot be guaranteed by the operator due to the lack of a reliable and affordable indoor positioning system which ensures a stable flight, among other issues. Here we present our first results of a European project, which consists of developing an indoor drone for professional footage especially designed for the creative industries. One of the main achievements of this project is the successful implication of the end-users in the overall design process from the very beginning. To ensure safe flight in confined spaces, our drone incorporates a positioning system based on ultra-wide band technology, an RGB-D (depth) camera for 3D environment reconstruction and the possibility to fully pre-program automatic flights. Since we also want to offer this tool for inexperienced pilots, we have always focused on user-friendly handling of the whole system throughout the entire process.

Keywords: Virtual reality, 3D reconstruction, indoor positioning system, UWB, RPAS, aerial film, intelligent navigation, advanced safety measures, creative industries.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 904

Authors: A. Esra İdemen, Sinan M. Şener, Emrah Acar

Abstract:

The technological paradigm of the disaster management field, especially in the case of governmental intervention strategies, is generally based on rapid and flexible accommodation solutions. From various technical solution patterns used to address the immediate housing needs of disaster victims, the adaptive re-use of existing buildings can be considered to be both low-cost and practical. However, there is a scarcity of analytical methods to screen, select and adapt buildings to help decision makers in cases of emergency. Following an extensive literature review, this paper aims to highlight key points and problem areas associated with the adaptive re-use of buildings within the disaster management context. In other disciplines such as real estate management, the adaptive re-use potential (ARP) of existing buildings is typically based on the prioritization of a set of technical and non-technical criteria which are then weighted to arrive at an economically viable investment decision. After a disaster, however, the assessment of the ARP of buildings requires consideration of different/additional layers of analysis which stem from general disaster management principles and the peculiarities of different types of disasters, as well as of their victims. In this paper, a discussion of the development of an adaptive re-use potential (ARP) assessment model is presented. It is thought that governmental and non-governmental decision makers who are required to take quick decisions to accommodate displaced masses following disasters are likely to benefit from the implementation of such a model.

Keywords: Adaptive re-use of buildings, assessment model, disaster management, temporary housing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1685

Authors: G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi, A. Jaffer Sathick, M. Abirami

Abstract:

Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been widely used in industrial pavements and non-structural elements such as pipes, culverts, tunnels, and precast elements. The strengthening effect of fibres in the concrete matrix is achieved primarily due to the bridging effect of fibres at the crack interfaces. The workability of the concrete was reduced on addition of high percentages of steel fibres. The optimum percentage of addition of steel fibres varies with its aspect ratio. For this study, 1% addition of steel has resulted to be the optimum percentage for both Hooked and Crimped Steel Fibres and was added to the beam specimens. The fibres restrain efficiently the cracks and take up residual stresses beyond the cracking. In this sense, diagonal cracks are effectively stitched up by fibres crossing it. The failure of beams within the shear failure range changed from shear to flexure in the presence of sufficient steel fibre quantity. The shear strength is increased with the addition of steel fibres and had exceeded the enhancement obtained with the transverse reinforcement. However, such increase is not directly in proportion with the quantity of fibres used. Considering all the clarification made in the present experimental investigation, it is concluded that 1% of crimped steel fibres with an aspect ratio of 50 is the best type of steel fibres for replacement of transverse stirrups in high strength concrete beams when compared to the steel fibres with hooked ends.

Keywords: Fibre reinforced concrete, steel fibre, shear strength, crack pattern.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 800

Authors: Kaan Yamanturk, Cihan Dogruoz

Abstract:

Seismic isolators have been utilized around the world to protect the structures, nonstructural components and contents from the damaging effects of earthquakes. In Structural Engineering, seismic isolation is used for protecting buildings and its vibration-sensitive contents from earthquakes. Seismic isolation is a passive control system that lowers effective earthquake forces by utilizing flexible bearings. One of the most significant isolation systems is seismic isolators. In this paper, double pendulum type Teflon coated seismic isolators utilized in a city hospital project by Guris Construction and Engineering Co. Inc, located in Kutahya, Turkey, have been investigated. Totally, 498 seismic isolators were applied in the project. These isolators are double friction pendulum type seismic isolation devices. The review of current practices is also examined in this study. The focus of this study is related to the application of passive seismic isolation systems for buildings as practiced in Kutahya City Hospital Project. Based on the study, the acceleration at the top floor will be 0.18 g and it will decrease 0.01 g in every floor. Therefore, seismic isolators are very important for buildings located in earthquake zones.

Keywords: Maximum considered earthquake, moment resisting frame, seismic isolator, seismic design.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 669

Authors: A.K. Baliarsingh, S. Panda, A.K. Mohanty, C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper presents a systematic approach for designing Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) based supplementary damping controllers for damping low frequency oscillations in a single-machine infinite-bus power system. Detailed investigations have been carried out considering the four alternatives UPFC based damping controller namely modulating index of series inverter (mB), modulating index of shunt inverter (mE), phase angle of series inverter (δB ) and phase angle of the shunt inverter (δE ). The design problem of the proposed controllers is formulated as an optimization problem and Real- Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) is employed to optimize damping controller parameters. Simulation results are presented and compared with a conventional method of tuning the damping controller parameters to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed design approach.

Keywords: Power System Oscillations, Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA), Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS), Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC), Damping Controller.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2083

Authors: Thuraya M. Qaradaghi, Newroz N. Abdulrazaq

Abstract:

The McEliece cryptosystem is an asymmetric type of cryptography based on error correction code. The classical McEliece used irreducible binary Goppa code which considered unbreakable until now especially with parameter [1024, 524, and 101], but it is suffering from large public key matrix which leads to be difficult to be used practically. In this work Irreducible and Separable Goppa codes have been introduced. The Irreducible and Separable Goppa codes used are with flexible parameters and dynamic error vectors. A Comparison between Separable and Irreducible Goppa code in McEliece Cryptosystem has been done. For encryption stage, to get better result for comparison, two types of testing have been chosen; in the first one the random message is constant while the parameters of Goppa code have been changed. But for the second test, the parameters of Goppa code are constant (m=8 and t=10) while the random message have been changed. The results show that the time needed to calculate parity check matrix in separable are higher than the one for irreducible McEliece cryptosystem, which is considered expected results due to calculate extra parity check matrix in decryption process for g2(z) in separable type, and the time needed to execute error locator in decryption stage in separable type is better than the time needed to calculate it in irreducible type. The proposed implementation has been done by Visual studio C#.

Keywords: McEliece cryptosystem, Goppa code, separable, irreducible.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2210

Authors: C. Hemasundara Rao, M. Madhavi Latha

Abstract:

Image compression can improve the performance of the digital systems by reducing time and cost in image storage and transmission without significant reduction of the image quality. Furthermore, the discrete cosine transform has emerged as the new state-of-the art standard for image compression. In this paper, a hybrid image compression technique based on reversible blockade transform coding is proposed. The technique, implemented over regions of interest (ROIs), is based on selection of the coefficients that belong to different transforms, depending on the coefficients is proposed. This method allows: (1) codification of multiple kernals at various degrees of interest, (2) arbitrary shaped spectrum,and (3) flexible adjustment of the compression quality of the image and the background. No standard modification for JPEG2000 decoder was required. The method was applied over different types of images. Results show a better performance for the selected regions, when image coding methods were employed for the whole set of images. We believe that this method is an excellent tool for future image compression research, mainly on images where image coding can be of interest, such as the medical imaging modalities and several multimedia applications. Finally VLSI implementation of proposed method is shown. It is also shown that the kernal of Hartley and Cosine transform gives the better performance than any other model.

Keywords: VLSI, Discrete Cosine Transform, JPEG, Hartleytransform, Radon Transform

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1835

Authors: Faizal A. Samman, Thomas Hollstein, Manfred Glesner

Abstract:

A synchronous network-on-chip using wormhole packet switching and supporting guaranteed-completion best-effort with low-priority (LP) and high-priority (HP) wormhole packet delivery service is presented in this paper. Both our proposed LP and HP message services deliver a good quality of service in term of lossless packet completion and in-order message data delivery. However, the LP message service does not guarantee minimal completion bound. The HP packets will absolutely use 100% bandwidth of their reserved links if the HP packets are injected from the source node with maximum injection. Hence, the service are suitable for small size messages (less than hundred bytes). Otherwise the other HP and LP messages, which require also the links, will experience relatively high latency depending on the size of the HP message. The LP packets are routed using a minimal adaptive routing, while the HP packets are routed using a non-minimal adaptive routing algorithm. Therefore, an additional 3-bit field, identifying the packet type, is introduced in their packet headers to classify and to determine the type of service committed to the packet. Our NoC prototypes have been also synthesized using a 180-nm CMOS standard-cell technology to evaluate the cost of implementing the combination of both services.

Keywords: Network-on-Chip, Parallel Pipeline Router Architecture, Wormhole Switching, Two-Level Priority Service.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1765

Authors: Fariba Shavakhi Zavareh, Hadi Fotoohabadi, Reza Sedaghati

Abstract:

Due to the continuous increment of the load demand, identification of weaker buses, improvement of voltage profile and power losses in the context of the voltage stability problems has become one of the major concerns for the larger, complex, interconnected power systems. The objective of this paper is to review the impact of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) controller in Wind generators connected electrical network for maintaining voltage stability. Wind energy could be the growing renewable energy due to several advantages. The influence of wind generators on power quality is a significant issue; non uniform power production causes variations in system voltage and frequency. Therefore, wind farm requires high reactive power compensation; the advances in high power semiconducting devices have led to the development of FACTS. The FACTS devices such as for example SVC inject reactive power into the system which helps in maintaining a better voltage profile. The performance is evaluated on an IEEE 14 bus system, two wind generators are connected at low voltage buses to meet the increased load demand and SVC devices are integrated at the buses with wind generators to keep voltage stability. Power flows, nodal voltage magnitudes and angles of the power network are obtained by iterative solutions using MIPOWER.

Keywords: Voltage Profile, FACTS Device, SVC, Distributed Generation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2661

Authors: Jehnming Lin

Abstract:

The effects of the contact ball-lens on the soda lime glass in laser thermal cleavage with a cw Nd-YAG laser were investigated in this study. A contact ball-lens was adopted to generate a bending force on the crack formation of the soda-lime glass in the laser cutting process. The Nd-YAG laser beam (wavelength of 1064 nm) was focused through the ball-lens and transmitted to the soda-lime glass, which was coated with a carbon film on the surface with a bending force from a ball-lens to generate a tensile stress state on the surface cracking. The fracture was controlled by the contact ball-lens and a straight cutting was tested to demonstrate the feasibility. Experimental observations on the crack propagation from the leading edge, main section and trailing edge of the glass sheet were compared with various mechanical and thermal loadings. Further analyses on the stress under various laser powers and contact ball loadings were made to characterize the innovative technology. The results show that the distributions of the side crack at the leading and trailing edges are mainly dependent on the boundary condition, contact force, cutting speed and laser power. With the increase of the mechanical and thermal loadings, the region of the side cracks might be dramatically reduced with proper selection of the geometrical constrains. Therefore the application of the contact ball-lens is a possible way to control the fracture in laser cleavage with improved cutting qualities.

Keywords: Laser cleavage, controlled fracture, contact ball lens.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2477

Authors: Teyana S. Sapula, Damian D. Haule

Abstract:

In online context, the design and implementation of effective remote laboratories environment is highly challenging on account of hardware and software needs. This paper presents the remote laboratory software framework modified from ilab shared architecture (ISA). The ISA is a framework which enables students to remotely acccess and control experimental hardware using internet infrastructure. The need for remote laboratories came after experiencing problems imposed by traditional laboratories. Among them are: the high cost of laboratory equipment, scarcity of space, scarcity of technical personnel along with the restricted university budget creates a significant bottleneck on building required laboratory experiments. The solution to these problems is to build web-accessible laboratories. Remote laboratories allow students and educators to interact with real laboratory equipment located anywhere in the world at anytime. Recently, many universities and other educational institutions especially in third world countries rely on simulations because they do not afford the experimental equipment they require to their students. Remote laboratories enable users to get real data from real-time hand-on experiments. To implement many remote laboratories, the system architecture should be flexible, understandable and easy to implement, so that different laboratories with different hardware can be deployed easily. The modifications were made to enable developers to add more equipment in ISA framework and to attract the new developers to develop many online laboratories.

Keywords: Batched, ISA, labserver, servicebroker.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1428

Authors: Vahidreza Mahmoudabadi, Omid Bahar, Mohammad Kazem Jafari

Abstract:

In many applied engineering problems, structural analysis is usually conducted by assuming a rigid bed, while imposing the effect of structure bed flexibility can affect significantly on the structure response. This article focuses on investigation and evaluation of the effects arising from considering a soil-structure system in evaluation of dynamic characteristics of a steel structure with respect to elastic and inelastic behaviors. The recorded structure acceleration during Taiwan’s strong Chi-Chi earthquake on different floors of the structure was our evaluation criteria. The respective structure is an eight-story steel bending frame structure designed using a displacement-based direct method assuring weak beam - strong column function. The results indicated that different identification methods i.e. reverse Fourier transform or transfer functions, is capable to determine some of the dynamic parameters of the structure precisely, rather than evaluating all of them at once (mode frequencies, mode shapes, structure damping, structure rigidity, etc.). Response evaluation based on the input and output data elucidated that the structure first mode is not significantly affected, even considering the soil-structure interaction effect, but the upper modes have been changed. Also, it was found that the response transfer function of the different stories, in which plastic hinges have occurred in the structure components, provides similar results.

Keywords: System identification, dynamic characteristics, soil-structure system, bending steel frame structure, displacement-based design.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 949

Authors: Dimitrios N. Gkritzapis, Elias E. Panagiotopoulos, Dionissios P. Margaris, Dimitrios G. Papanikas

Abstract:

A full six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) flight dynamics model is proposed for the accurate prediction of short and long-range trajectories of high spin and fin-stabilized projectiles via atmospheric flight to final impact point. The projectiles is assumed to be both rigid (non-flexible), and rotationally symmetric about its spin axis launched at low and high pitch angles. The mathematical model is based on the full equations of motion set up in the no-roll body reference frame and is integrated numerically from given initial conditions at the firing site. The projectiles maneuvering motion depends on the most significant force and moment variations, in addition to wind and gravity. The computational flight analysis takes into consideration the Mach number and total angle of attack effects by means of the variable aerodynamic coefficients. For the purposes of the present work, linear interpolation has been applied from the tabulated database of McCoy-s book. The developed computational method gives satisfactory agreement with published data of verified experiments and computational codes on atmospheric projectile trajectory analysis for various initial firing flight conditions.

Keywords: Constant-Variable aerodynamic coefficients, low and high pitch angles, wind.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2420

Authors: Franco Frattolillo

Abstract:

In the last decade digital watermarking procedures have become increasingly applied to implement the copyright protection of multimedia digital contents distributed on the Internet. To this end, it is worth noting that a lot of watermarking procedures for images and videos proposed in literature are based on spread spectrum techniques. However, some scepticism about the robustness and security of such watermarking procedures has arisen because of some documented attacks which claim to render the inserted watermarks undetectable. On the other hand, web content providers wish to exploit watermarking procedures characterized by flexible and efficient implementations and which can be easily integrated in their existing web services frameworks or platforms. This paper presents how a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure for MPEG-2 videos can be modified to be exploited in web contexts. To this end, the proposed procedure has been made secure and robust against some well-known and dangerous attacks. Furthermore, its basic scheme has been optimized by making the insertion procedure adaptive with respect to the terminals used to open the videos and the network transactions carried out to deliver them to buyers. Finally, two different implementations of the procedure have been developed: the former is a high performance parallel implementation, whereas the latter is a portable Java and XML based implementation. Thus, the paper demonstrates that a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure, with limited and appropriate modifications to the embedding scheme, can still represent a valid alternative to many other well-known and more recent watermarking procedures proposed in literature.

Keywords: Copyright protection, digital watermarking, intellectual property protection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1508

Authors: Mustafa S. Fawad, Wang Wencheng, Wu Enhua

Abstract:

Shadows add great amount of realism to a scene and many algorithms exists to generate shadows. Recently, Shadow volumes (SVs) have made great achievements to place a valuable position in the gaming industries. Looking at this, we concentrate on simple but valuable initial partial steps for further optimization in SV generation, i.e.; model simplification and silhouette edge detection and tracking. Shadow volumes (SVs) usually takes time in generating boundary silhouettes of the object and if the object is complex then the generation of edges become much harder and slower in process. The challenge gets stiffer when real time shadow generation and rendering is demanded. We investigated a way to use the real time silhouette edge detection method, which takes the advantage of spatial and temporal coherence, and exploit the level-of-details (LOD) technique for reducing silhouette edges of the model to use the simplified version of the model for shadow generation speeding up the running time. These steps highly reduce the execution time of shadow volume generations in real-time and are easily flexible to any of the recently proposed SV techniques. Our main focus is to exploit the LOD and silhouette edge detection technique, adopting them to further enhance the shadow volume generations for real time rendering.

Keywords: LOD, perception, Shadow Volumes, SilhouetteEdge, Spatial and Temporal coherence.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1612

Authors: M. S. Nourbakhsh, M. E. Khosroshahi

Abstract:

Laser soldering is based on applying some soldering material (albumin) onto the approximated edges of the cut and heating the solder (and the underlying tissues) by a laser beam. Endogenous and exogenous materials such as indocyanine green (ICG) are often added to solders to enhance light absorption. Gold nanoshells are new materials which have an optical response dictated by the plasmon resonance. The wavelength at which the resonance occurs depends on the core and shell sizes, allowing nanoshells to be tailored for particular applications. The purposes of this study was use combination of ICG and different concentration of gold nanoshells for skin tissue soldering and also to examine the effect of laser soldering parameters on the properties of repaired skin. Two mixtures of albumin solder and different combinations of ICG and gold nanoshells were prepared. A full thickness incision of 2×20 mm2 was made on the surface and after addition of mixtures it was irradiated by an 810nm diode laser at different power densities. The changes of tensile strength σt due to temperature rise, number of scan (Ns), and scan velocity (Vs) were investigated. The results showed at constant laser power density (I), σt of repaired incisions increases by increasing the concentration of gold nanoshells in solder, Ns and decreasing Vs. It is therefore important to consider the tradeoff between the scan velocity and the surface temperature for achieving an optimum operating condition. In our case this corresponds to σt =1800 gr/cm2 at I~ 47 Wcm-2, T ~ 85ºC, Ns =10 and Vs=0.3mms-1.

Keywords: Tissue soldering, gold nanoshells, indocyanine green, combination, tensile strength.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1501

Authors: Alisha Khanal, Gokhan Saygili

Abstract:

It is commonly observed that aftershocks follow the mainshock. Aftershocks continue over a period of time with a decreasing frequency and typically there is not sufficient time for repair and retrofit between a mainshock–aftershock sequence. Usually, aftershocks are smaller in magnitude; however, aftershock ground motion characteristics such as the intensity and duration can be greater than the mainshock due to the changes in the earthquake mechanism and location with respect to the site. The seismic performance of slopes is typically evaluated based on the sliding displacement predicted to occur along a critical sliding surface. Various empirical models are available that predict sliding displacement as a function of seismic loading parameters, ground motion parameters, and site parameters but these models do not include the aftershocks. The seismic risks associated with the post-mainshock slopes ('damaged slopes') subjected to aftershocks is significant. This paper extends the empirical sliding displacement models for flexible slopes subjected to earthquake mainshock-aftershock sequences (a multi hazard approach). A dataset was developed using 144 pairs of as-recorded mainshock-aftershock sequences using the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) database. The results reveal that the combination of mainshock and aftershock increases the seismic demand on slopes relative to the mainshock alone; thus, seismic risks are underestimated if aftershocks are neglected.

Keywords: Seismic slope stability, sliding displacement, mainshock, aftershock, landslide, earthquake.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 898

Authors: Manisha Dubey, Gaurav Gupta, Anoop Arya

Abstract:

The demand for power supply increases day by day in developing countries like India henceforth demand of reactive power support in the form of ancillary services provider also has been increased. The multi-line and multi-type Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) controllers are playing a vital role to regulate power flow through the transmission line. Unified power flow controller and interline power flow controller can be utilized to control reactive power flow through the transmission line. In a restructured power system, the demand of such controller is being popular due to their inherent capability. The transmission pricing by using reactive power cost allocation through modified matrix methodology has been proposed. The FACTS technologies have quite costly assembly, so it is very useful to apportion the expenses throughout the restructured electricity industry. Therefore, in this work, after embedding the FACTS devices into load flow, the impact on the costs allocated to users in fraction to the transmission framework utilization has been analyzed. From the obtained results, it is clear that the total cost recovery is enhanced towards the Reactive Power flow through the different transmission line for 5 bus test system. The fair pricing policy towards reactive power can be achieved by the proposed method incorporating FACTS controller towards cost recovery of the transmission network.

Keywords: Inter line power flow controller, Transmission Pricing, Unified power flow controller, cost allocation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 684

Authors: Nicolò Vaiana, Mariacristina Spizzuoco, Giorgio Serino

Abstract:

In this paper, the results of experimental tests performed on a Helical Wire Rope Isolator (HWRI) are presented in order to describe the dynamic and static behavior of the selected metal device in three different displacements ranges, namely small, relatively large, and large displacements ranges, without and under the effect of a vertical load. A testing machine, allowing to apply horizontal displacement or load histories to the tested bearing with a constant vertical load, has been adopted to perform the dynamic and static tests. According to the experimental results, the dynamic behavior of the tested device depends on the applied displacement amplitude. Indeed, the HWRI displays a softening and a hardening stiffness at small and relatively large displacements, respectively, and a stronger nonlinear stiffening behavior at large displacements. Furthermore, the experimental tests reveal that the application of a vertical load allows to have a more flexible device with higher damping properties and that the applied vertical load affects much less the dynamic response of the metal device at large displacements. Finally, a decrease in the static to dynamic effective stiffness ratio with increasing displacement amplitude has been observed.

Keywords: Base isolation, earthquake engineering, experimental hysteresis loops, wire rope isolators.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1332

Authors: M. Zellagui, A. Chaghi

Abstract:

This paper presents the impact study of GTO Controlled Series Capacitor (GCSC) parameters on measured impedance (Zseen) by MHO distance relays for single transmission line high voltage 220 kV in the presence of single phase to earth fault with fault resistance (RF). The study deals with a 220 kV single electrical transmission line of Eastern Algerian transmission networks at Group Sonelgaz (Algerian Company of Electrical and Gas) compensated by series Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) i.e. GCSC connected at midpoint of the transmission line. The transmitted active and reactive powers are controlled by three GCSC-s. The effects of maximum reactive power injected as well as injected maximum voltage by GCSC on distance relays measured impedance is treated. The simulations results investigate the effects of GCSC injected parameters: variable reactance (XGCSC), variable voltage (VGCSC) and reactive power injected (QGCSC) on measured resistance and reactance in the presence of earth fault with resistance fault varied between 5 to 50 Ω for three cases study.

Keywords: GCSC Parameters, Transmission line, Earth fault, Symmetrical components, Distance protection, Measured impedance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1946

Authors: Mohammed Gamil Montasser, Angelo Battaglia

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is mostly related to the beginning of organization. In growing business organizations, entrepreneurship expands its conceptualization. It reveals itself through new business creation in the active organization, through renewal, change, innovation, creation and development of current organization, through breaking and changing of established rules inside or outside the organization and becomes more flexible, adaptive and competitive, also improving effectiveness of organization activity. Therefore, the topic of entrepreneurship, relates the creation of firms to personal / individual characteristics of the entrepreneurs and their social context. This paper is an empirical study, which aims to address these two gaps in the literature. For this endeavor, we use the latest available data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project. This data set is widely regarded as a unique source of information about entrepreneurial activity, as well as the aspirations and attitudes of individuals across a wide number of countries and territories worldwide. This paper tries to contribute to fill this gap, by exploring the key drivers of innovative entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. Our findings are consistent with the existing literature in terms of the individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, but quite surprisingly we find an inverted U-shape relation between human development and innovative entrepreneurship in tourism sector. It has been revealed that tourism entrepreneurs are less likely to have innovative products, compared with entrepreneurs in medium developed countries.

Keywords: GEM, human development, innovative entrepreneurship, occupational choice, tourism business, U-shape relation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1696